PARIS: Under the headline “Scammers in Paris”, an online sleuth known as ZachXBT published a blog in August detailing how a pair of youngsters stole cryptoassets worth millions.
Much to his surprise, the French police announced last week that they had acted on his tipoff and charged five people.
One explanation for the lack of action is that low-level scams are not a priority.
The authorities in the European Union and the United States — the leaders on crypto control — have relentlessly focused on aspects of crypto crime related to terrorist financing, money laundering and sanctions busting.
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Arrests have been rare at federal level in the US — the Department of Justice’s specialised unit charged only eight suspects in the first half of this year.
US federal agencies have often concentrated on headline-grabbing suspects like Heather Morgan, an amateur rapper nicknamed “Razzlekhan” who was charged with money laundering in February, and more recently reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who was fined this month for illegally promoting a cryptocurrency.
Yet the specialist crypto firm Chainalysis said more than $3.5 billion had been lost to scams and hacks between January and July.
AFP contacted police departments and crime agencies in Europe and the United States but none could give figures for clear-up rates or charges for crypto-related crime.
